In about 1910, Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born at Alhalkere (Soakage Boar), Utopia Statiion. It wasn't until Emily was about nine years old that she first saw white people. A few Years later, she started work as a stockhand on pastoral properties in the area. This was at a time when Aboriginal women on the stations were usually only employed as domestics. Emily was the adopted daughter of Jacob Jones, a very important Lawman in the Allure community.
She became an Eastern Anmatyerre speaker and senior artist at Utopia and was a leader in the womens' ceremonial business there.
Her country was Alhalkere and her Dreamings included Sand Goanna, Wild Orange, Emu, Wildflower and Yam.
From 1977, Emily, like many of the Aboriginal women artists from Utopia, made batik which was exhibited both in Australia and overseas. When she painted her first canvas for an exhibition called "A Summer Project 1988 - 1989", the work of Emily Kngwarreye received widespread acclaim. Emily found in acrylics and canvas a medium well suited to the bold immediacy of her style and her pleasure in working as an artist was reflected in powerful colours and energetic and expressive compositions.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye died in Alice Springs on 2 September 1996. She has left behind a legacy that is a valuable contribution to the art world.
Glory Ngarla was born in approximately 1948 at Boundary Bore in the Utopia region. Her late husband was Emily Kame Kngwarreye's first cousin. Glory and her husband raised six children. Glory is the younger sister of the late Motor Car Jim.
Glory is well known for her beautiful batiks and is featured in the book "Utopia - a picture story" by Anne Marie Brody, which shows a collection of batiks now owned by Robert Holmes a Court collection. Glory travelled to Adelaide, Sydney and Darwin in the 1980s to exhibit the batik collection. In 1994, she was one of the women from Utopia who went to Indonesia to learn more.
Glory's main Dreamings are Bush Plum, Bush Berry, Yam Dreaming, and Body Paint - which depicts both with linear design and intricate dot work.
Born c 1930
Anmatyerre - Utopia, NT
Ada Bird was born 250km north east of Alice Springs on traditional land known as Utopia. This cattle station was bought back from white land owners in 1978. Her artistic career started in the late 1970s when women in the community were introduced to making batik print on material.
These were acquired for a major overseas exhibition which later featured in the books "Utopia - a picture story" and "The art of Utopia".
Her Dreamings are of her home country "mulga bore", and include lizard, emu, grass seeds and yam (sweet potato).
In about 1945, Gloria Petyarre was born in Utopia. Her Aboriginal language is Anmatyerre and her country is known to Aborigines as Atnangkere. Gloria is one of seven sisters who are all artists, including the well-known Kathleen Petyarre, Nancy Petyarre, Violet Petyarre and Ada Bird.
Gloria, like many of the Aboriginal women artists in Utopia, first gained recognition as an artist working with batik. She exhibited her batik work in group exhibitions in Australia and overseas from 1977 to 1987. In 1988, Gloria began painting and she painted her first work for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. This painting was shown in the exhibition "Utopia Women's Painting; The First Works of Canvas; a Summer Project 1988 to 1989".
In 1990 and 1991, Gloria travelled to Ireland, London and India as a representative of the Utopia women accompanying the group exhibition "Utopia - a picture story". The exhibition also travelled to Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia.
Gloria's first solo exhibition was in 1991 at Australian Galleries in New York. This exhibition was also shown at Utopia Art in Sydney, Australia. From 1993 to 1995, Gloria had more solo exhibitions at Utopia Gallery in Sydney.
Other exhibitions featuring Gloria's paintings include Aboriginal Womens' Exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, "Flash Painting" at the National Gallery of Australia, and "The Body Paint Collection" which toured the USA.
Besides painting, in 1993 Gloria received a commission from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop in Victoria. In 1994 she received a further commission to carry out a tapestry for the Law Courts in Brisbane.
Due to her artistic talent becoming well-recognised, in 1995, Gloria received a Full Fellowship Grant from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Board of the Australia Council.
1999, Gloria won the coveted Wynne Prize.
Gloria's main Dreamings include Mountain Devil, Bush Medicine, Aknangkere Growth and Awelye Dreaming.
Minnie Pwerle was born in the Utopia region in approximately 1910. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr.
Minnie has five sisters, Margie, Molly, Emily, Lois and Ally and one brother called Louis.
Minnie had seven children including Eileen, Betty, June, Dora, Raymond and Barbara Weir.
She began painting in earnest recently, and has completed a series of linear paintings in September/October 1999. These works are bold and free-flowing.
Minnie's main Dreamings are Awelye-Atnwengerrp, Bush Melon and Bush Melon Seed. These convey her love and respect for the land and the food it provides to the people.
"Awelye-Atnwengerrp" is depicted by a series of lines painted in different widths and colours. This pattern represents the lines painted on the top half of the womens' bodies during ceremonies in their country of Atnwengerrp.
Bush Melon is depicted using a linear design of curves, circles, and breast motifs in different colours creating a very loose and bold image, while Bush Melon Seed is big and small patches of colour strewn across the canvas. Both these Dreamings tell the story of this lovely sweet food that comes from a very small bush and is only found in Atnwengerrp. Once very abundant and fruiting in the summer season, the bush melon is now very hard to find.
Minnie and the other women used to collect this fruit (which was green in colour and ripened to a brown colour) and scrape out the small black seeds. They would then eat the fruit immediately, or cut it into small pieces which were skewered and dried ready to be eaten in the coming months when bush tucker was scarce.
Minnie, now a widow, lives in Utopia at the Arlparra store with some of her children. She occasionally visits Adelaide to visit her daughter, Barbara Weir, and her grandson, Fred Torres.
In the late 1960s Barbara, together with six children returned to Utopia, her birthplace. There she was re-united with Emily Kame Kngwarreye who had looked after Barbara when she was a child. It was most likely this influence by Emily, herself a well known Aboriginal artist, that encouraged Barbara's interest, initially in batik and later in painting.
In 1994, Barbara, along with a small group of artists from Utopia, travelled to Indonesia. Barbara returned full of ideas for developing her own creating painting style.
In 1996, Barbara travelled to Paris and Switzerland at the request of a European art gallery owner. There she painted some paintings for the gallery owner and they all sold quickly to art collectors in Europe. Her works are now widely represented in Australia and overseas, including private, corporate and State Gallery collections.
Her Dreamings include Bush Berry, Grass Seed, Wild Flower and My Mother's Country.
